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May 9, 2019

Where There’s Grass, There’s Bass… and Redfish and Specks

Restoring vegetation on the Gulf coastline is helping to improve your chance of landing bigger trout and redfish

Freshwater anglers have long understood that finding grass means finding the bass.

In the last decade, saltwater fishermen in Louisiana have begun to understand that it’s not just largemouth bass that love to live, lurk, and feed in submerged grass beds. Popular brackish-marsh dwellers, like speckled trout and redfish, utilize this subsurface vegetation, as well.

Throughout the late summer and into the spring, speckled trout cruise the edges of grass beds in marshes, coastal lakes, and bays eating shrimp, mullet, menhaden, crabs, and even bluegill, shad, and other freshwater forage. Juvenile trout spend much of their first few months in the grass, as well—eating and hiding from predators.

Redfish from two to 25 pounds live in and around the submerged vegetation, too, using clumps and pockets in the grass as ambush points. In fact, they are usually sharing these same dents and pockets with largemouths.

Few things in angling match the excitement of a 10-pound redfish demolishing a topwater frog or a buzzbait meant to lure a bass from a grassy shoreline.

In addition to the enormous benefits for sportfish, forage fish, and migrating waterfowl, submerged grasses help to break up wave action, filter out suspended sediment, and infuse dissolved oxygen into the water. This protects sensitive marshy shoreline while improving water quality.

Submerged grass beds had become scarce in many of the marshes of Southeast Louisiana in the 1980s and 90s.

Annual flooding of the Mississippi River had been largely cut off from coastal marshes by levees and canals—like the ill-fated Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO) in St Bernard Parish and the Barataria Waterway in Jefferson Parish—while hundreds of oil field canals were allowing saltwater to intrude deep into brackish and freshwater marshes and swamps.

The salt water killed off hundreds of thousands of acres of grass beds, along with large expanses of coastal oak and cypress forests, reducing the productivity of coastal fisheries, weakening already-loose marsh soils, and making coastal communities more vulnerable to the winds, waves, and storm surges from hurricanes and tropical storms.

This vulnerability was on full display during Hurricane Katrina, as storm surge flowed freely through the MRGO, across the degraded marshes and dead cypress swamps, and straight into the heart of New Orleans communities.

This redfish was caught in scattered submerged grass in a small marsh pond near the mouth of the Atchafalaya River in Terrebonne Parish. (May 2019)

Fortunately, efforts over the last 20 years to restore Louisiana’s coast and control salinity levels have facilitated the return of submerged grass beds, especially in the marshes east of the Mississippi River and around Lake Pontchartrain. Marshes that held a few redfish and some seasonal speckled trout have become incredibly productive bass fisheries, while still offering excellent opportunities to catch speckled trout from early fall until the early spring and to land trophy reds year round. Ducks have returned to some of those spots too.

Lower salinity levels have also provided an opportunity for Louisiana’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority and non-profit groups, like the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation and America’s Wetland Foundation, to replant cypress trees to replace the ones killed by saltwater intrusion and timber harvest in the last century.

Louisiana’s ongoing efforts to divert sediment and freshwater from the Mississippi into coastal marshes and rebuild natural coastal barriers will go a long way toward allowing submerged vegetation to return—further improving fish and waterfowl habitat and protecting coastal communities.

Our fisheries will change, and so will the way we fish, as freshwater and sediment is reintroduced. But, as many Louisiana anglers have found out in the last two decades, it will be a change for the better.

To learn more, watch our video on the importance of vegetation to the health of Louisiana marshes.

To advocate for the construction of diversions to restore the Mississippi River Delta, please log on to www.coastal.la.gov.

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May 7, 2019

Remaining Nonpartisan Does Not Mean Sitting Out the Tough Fights

When it comes to safeguarding the future of America’s hunting and fishing traditions, we can’t afford to be silent

You might think that to be nonpartisan in today’s deeply polarized political climate you’d have to avoid taking sides altogether. But hunters and anglers have no hope of creating conservation solutions if we sit out the tough fights.

Even as many groups slide into one camp or the other, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership has stayed true to its principles, regardless of political pressures. This is outlined in our latest Annual Report, where we detail the bad conservation policy we criticized, the positive steps forward for habitat that we praised, and the major TRCP priorities we were able to see through in 2018.

For example, we worked across the aisle to achieve huge successes for wildlife, water quality, and hunting and fishing access in the Farm Bill. Our staff and partners secured long-overdue recognition for the value of recreational fishing and the need for critical updates to fisheries management in the Modern Fish Act. We exposed challenges with public land access, but we also offered meaningful solutions.

And, of course, we continued to do the hard, inglorious work of defending conservation, as plans to restore greater sage grouse habitat got a second look and Clean Water Act protections for  headwaters and wetlands were put at risk.

The TRCP doesn’t toe a party line or take positions based on red or blue. And, no matter how daunting, we’ll never back away from an issue that threatens fish and wildlife—from our best big game down to the tiniest forage fish.

We remain true to the notion that conservation should never be partisan. That’s why we will continue to provide the forum to bring disparate sides together for the benefit of future generations of American outdoorsmen and women.

We’re glad to have you in our camp.

Download TRCP’s 2018 Annual Report here.

May 2, 2019

TRCP Honors Three Champions of Bipartisanship in Conservation

Senator Bennet, Representative Conaway, and philanthropist Liz Storer were recognized at the organization’s 11th Annual Capital Conservation Awards Dinner

The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership was honored to celebrate three conservation champions from Capitol Hill and the private sector last night at the organization’s 11th Annual Capital Conservation Awards Dinner and gala fundraising event.

Liz Storer, president and CEO of the George B. Storer Foundation and a longtime conservation advocate, received TRCP’s 2019 Conservation Achievement Award for her impact on Western conservation issues. This includes consistent support for the development and implementation of comprehensive sage grouse conservation plans and the research, mapping, and protection of big game migration corridors. Storer has also been proud to serve on the TRCP Board of Directors for the last nine years.

Storer’s award was presented by Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), who received a TRCP award in 2016.

Senator Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Representative Michael Conaway (R-Texas) were each presented with the 2019 James D. Range Conservation Award—named for TRCP’s co-founder, a conservation visionary, and given to one Democrat and one Republican each year.

Sen. Bennet was recognized for championing both public and private lands and waters, through his support of the Land and Water Conservation Fund and as a conservation leader on the Senate Agriculture Committee during Farm Bill negotiations. He is also the Democratic lead on legislation to improve federal science on chronic wasting disease.

Bennet’s award was presented by Erik Glenn, executive director of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust.

Rep. Conaway was recognized for his leadership on the 2018 Farm Bill, which clinched many victories for wildlife habitat, water quality, and sportsmen’s access. He is the ranking member of the House Committee on Agriculture and a member of the Sportsmen’s Caucus and International Conservation Caucus.

Conaway’s award was presented by Representative Marc Veasey (D-Texas.)

“Like TRCP founder Jim Range, Michael Bennet, Mike Conaway, and Liz Storer are pragmatic conservationists who understand that people are a part of the land and believe that we are duty-bound to leave a natural legacy to future generations,” said Whit Fosburgh, TRCP’s president and CEO. “They also understand that conservation is not a partisan issue—it is something that should connect us all as Americans. We were proud to honor that spirit by bringing together more than 500 conservation luminaries, individual supporters, corporate sponsors, policymakers, and media professionals at this event.”

Senator Jon Tester (D-Mont.) teamed up with Representative Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) to deliver the ceremony’s opening remarks about the value of conservation, before an exciting live auction featuring auctioneer Johnna Wells. TRCP Board Chairman Rod Nelson gave closing remarks.

Thank you to our event sponsors:

Coca-Cola, George B. Storer Foundation, National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, Schlumberger, Shell, Yamaha, Altria, American Sportfishing Association, Baker Botts, Bass Pro Shops, Boone & Crockett, Matt Cook, The High Lonesome Ranch, Kirby, National Marine  Manufacturers Association, Outdoor Industry Association, Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, Pure Fishing, Range Resources, Recreation Vehicle Industry Association, Tod Sedgwick, Simms Fishing Products, SITKA Gear, Archery Trade Association, The Baird Group, Center for Sportfishing Policy, Coastal Conservation Association, Costa, Everglades Foundation, Federal Premium, Natural Resource Results, The Nature Conservancy, Orvis, Outdoor Research, Peak Design, Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever, PotlatchDeltic, REI, Sorini Samet & Associates, Southern Company, Weyerhaueser, Williams, YETI, AFL-CIO, Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies, Baker Donelson, Bonefish & Tarpon Trust, Browning, Captains for Clean Water, The Conservation Fund, Ducks Unlimited, Elliotsville Plantation, First Lite, Forbes-Tate, Fly Fishers International, Jonah Energy, Land Trust Alliance, Leupold, NEMO Equipment, National Wild Turkey Federation, PERC, Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation, Ruffed Grouse Society, Texas Parks & Wildlife Foundation, Union Roofers, Upper Green River Conservancy, American Forest Foundation, American Iron & Steel Institute, Brookover Land Enterprises, The Cypress Group, Erdle Consulting Group, Filson, National Park Foundation, National Wildlife Refuge Association, New Belgium Brewing, New Belgium Family Foundation, Pisces Foundation, Sage, Terlato Wine Group, Turner Foundation, Vortex Optics, and Wine & Spirit Wholesalers of America.

The 12th Annual Capital Conservation Awards Dinner will be held on Wednesday, April 29, 2020 in Washington, DC.

April 26, 2019

Podcast: Building Better Highway Crossings for Big Game on the Move

A perfect download for your next road trip, tune in to learn how wildlife use enhanced highway over- and underpasses

Photo by Wyoming Department of Transportation

April 24, 2019

Sportsmen Groups Launch Campaign to Safeguard the Ruby Mountains

Citing the outstanding hunting and fishing opportunities, a coalition of influential hunting, fishing, and wildlife conservation groups calls for Congress to safeguard public land recreational opportunities in Nevada

 

Sportsmen for the Rubies, a coalition of 14 hunting, fishing, and wildlife conservation organizations, today launched a public campaign aimed at convincing federal lawmakers to pass the Ruby Mountains Protection Act.

The proposed legislation, S.258, introduced by Senator Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) would permanently withdraw 450,000 acres of U.S. Forest Service-managed public lands in northern Nevada’s Ruby and East Humboldt Mountains from future oil and gas leasing.

“The Rubies are recognized around the world as a premier hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation destination,” said Carl Erquiaga, Nevada field representative with the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. “They are also the origin of one of the most important big-game migration corridors in the state, utilized by its largest mule deer herd, and home to many other fish and wildlife species, including the Lahontan cutthroat trout.”

The coalition hopes to raise awareness, both around the state and in Washington, D.C., of the potential threats posed by energy development in the area. Its website, SportsmenfortheRubies.com, will showcase organizational support, provide updates on this conservation opportunity, and enable individual hunters and anglers to take action by contacting their decision makers in support of this world-class hunting and fishing destination.

“The streams that flow out of the Rubies provide some of the best water for Lahontan cutthroat trout in the entire state,” said Pam Harrington, Nevada field coordinator with Trout Unlimited. “The fishing opportunities that abound around the Rubies and the Ruby Marshes need to be protected for future generations.”

The coalition is part of a growing movement to support the Ruby Mountain Protection Act that includes diverse stakeholders, including numerous Tribal governments and other local interests.

“This is the time to make your voice heard, not after you’re upset when the good hunting is no longer there,” said Elko sportsman Justin French. “Sportsmen and women have an opportunity right now to be proactive and do what’s best for our traditions.”

For more information on Sportsmen for the Rubies and other conservation issues, contact Pam Harrington with Trout Unlimited (pharrington@tu.org)  or Carl Erquiaga (cerquiaga@trcp.org) with the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.

 

Photo by Tom Hilton via flickr.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

CHEERS TO CONSERVATION

Theodore Roosevelt’s experiences hunting and fishing certainly fueled his passion for conservation, but it seems that a passion for coffee may have powered his mornings. In fact, Roosevelt’s son once said that his father’s coffee cup was “more in the nature of a bathtub.” TRCP has partnered with Afuera Coffee Co. to bring together his two loves: a strong morning brew and a dedication to conservation. With your purchase, you’ll not only enjoy waking up to the rich aroma of this bolder roast—you’ll be supporting the important work of preserving hunting and fishing opportunities for all.

$4 from each bag is donated to the TRCP, to help continue their efforts of safeguarding critical habitats, productive hunting grounds, and favorite fishing holes for future generations.

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